


New Residents

by Duganator01



Series: Moonage Daydream [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe - Space, Dogs, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:07:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26086192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duganator01/pseuds/Duganator01
Summary: Okay fine, maybe running off on a space adventure with no money and jobs wasn’t the best idea in the world. They needed more help, the kind that could actually help out.Now all Ren had to do to achieve that was corral his friend. A friend who had the best intentions in the galaxy, but the attention span of a golden retriever.They could barely support themselves enough to keep fuel in the ship and food on the table. And it didn’t help anything that Jaune kept trying to bring home strays.
Relationships: Jaune Arc & Lie Ren, Lie Ren & Nora Valkyrie, Nora Valkyrie & Oscar Pine
Series: Moonage Daydream [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1851859
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	1. Man's Best Friend

**Author's Note:**

> Traveling the galaxy unsupervised was all well and good. Unless you got distracted by everything that moved.

“We are just here to get food, and that is it,” Ren told Jaune. “No distractions this time. We don’t have enough money for that.”

“I didn’t get that distracted,” Jaune argued.

Ren gave him a stern look.

“I said I was sorry! They were very persistent.”

“Sorry doesn’t buy fuel, Jaune. Or food. We don’t have that much money left, and we need to get supplies.”

“I’ll be careful this time. I promise.”

“Good,” Ren grabbed their packs, leaving their ship. “Let’s go.”

The planet that they were on was mostly markets. Ships came and went, buying and selling goods constantly. There were some shops that stayed, but most were only around for a day or two at a time. It was a merchants dream. 

Buyers from all around the galaxy, a vibrant array of items to sell and buy, and a reputation that could improve a merchant’s sales immensely. Fortunately, despite the ever-changing layout of shops, it was always easy to find whatever was needed, and sometimes, what wasn’t.

Jaune and Ren made their way into the depths of the crowds. Merchants shouted their various wares from stalls lining the streets. A few kids pushed through the legs of the adults, chasing after a ball. Scents from food stalls wafted over the crowds.

Jaune’s stomach growled. He hadn’t eaten all day, and he swore he could smell dinosaur chicken nuggets standing out among the other scents. He looked up at Ren, who was scanning the stalls around them for one selling fuel.

“I’m hungry,” he whined, putting on his best sad face.

“We’re buying food.”

“No, I’m hungry right now.”

“We’ll have food we can make on the ship.”

“You sound like my mother,” Jaune grumbled, folding his arms and pouting.

“At least one of us does,” Ren countered. “We can’t afford to buy from the stalls here. They’re all going to be overpriced, and you know it.”

They passed by a stall selling juicy racks of meat with roasted vegetables. Jaune’s stomach rumbled loud enough to hear over the crowds.

“Please,” Jaune begged. “I’m gonna starve, Ren.”

“You’ll live,” he handed a list to Jaune. “Now go see if you can find a stall that sells this fuel. I’ll handle food, since I don’t trust you to not spend all our money on vendor food.”

Jaune huffed and snatched the list out of Ren’s hand. “Aren’t you going to give me any money to buy said fuel with?”

“No, because I don’t trust you.”

Jaune rolled his eyes and turned on his heel, stalking out into the crowd. It was impossible to walk without bumping into someone. The crowds were tightly packed, and it seemed that every tall species had decided that today was the day to shop. Jaune couldn’t see a damn thing.

He pushed past a pair of bickering Velms, not bothering to apologize, and emerged in front of a food stall selling fresh fruits. One of the people who had just bought some of the fruit took a bite, the juice dribbling down their chin.

“Shut up,” he muttered to his growling stomach. Jaune had to strongly resist the urge to just pick one fruit from the basket of an unsuspecting customer. He couldn’t get in trouble here, especially not when he was separated from Ren.

Ren wouldn’t know. It would be fine. Right?

No, it would be wrong to steal. Jaune didn’t want to steal.

Suddenly, the customer he had been eying pushed past him, jostling the basket hooked on their arm. A single pear-shaped fruit bounced out, and Jaune caught it deftly in his hand. The alien appeared to be completely unaware of their loss, and disappeared into the crowd. 

Jaune looked around, checking to see if anyone noticed him holding the sort-of-not-really-stolen-fruit. He then took a bite of the delicious fruit and kept walking, a grin plastered on his face.

Ha! Take that Ren. He’d gotten food without spending money or stealing.

He was just about to take the last bite of the fruit when he noticed something staring at him from one of the alleyways. Curious, Jaune took a few steps towards it, keeping his body low. 

The creature backed up into the alleyway, keeping their distance. They were afraid of him.

“It’s okay,” Jaune said softly. “Here.” He held the rest of his fruit out in front of him.

It slowly moved forwards, stepping cautiously out of the shadows. It looked like a dog, but made of a green, goopy substance. The goo was dirty, like they hadn’t been cleaned in a long time.

Jaune smiled at the creature, and it cautiously moved towards him, taking the fruit out of his hand and leaving behind some green slobber.

“Aren’t you just the cutest?” He moved to sit down. The goopy dog scuttled backwards and Jaune froze. “Hey, hey, hey. It’s okay. See?” He held up his hands, slowly lowering himself down. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m nice. Nice Jaune.”

The creature hesitated, and then approached again. It licked one of Jaune’s hands with its gooey tongue, licking off the remaining juice from the fruit. It felt almost soft, and was hardly stickier than the fruit had been.

“See? Nice,” Jaune smiled at the dog. Slowly, he lifted his other hand and began to pick off bits of litter that had gotten stuck in the poor animal. He moved slowly, making sure that the dog knew he was trying to help. Sudden movements still seemed to scare her.

Suddenly, Jaune’s communicator began to blink and beep softly. The dog seemed intrigued by the flashing blue light. She moved closer, almost touching Jaune. He stayed as still as he could, letting the dog stare at the dancing lights. 

Slowly, Jaune moved his other hand to press the answer button. Ren’s voice came through suddenly, slightly muffled by the crowd apparently around him.

“Jaune, where are you? Have you found fuel yet?” Ren sounded worried, as usual.

“No, not yet,” Jaune replied standing up slowly. “I got sidetracked.” He could hear Ren’s frustration from across the communicator.

“By what, Jaune?”

“I found a dog? I think. It looks like a dog, anyways. Like if a dog were made of green goop. She’s really friendly.”

“We’re not getting a dog, Jaune,” Ren said sternly. “We can hardly afford to feed ourselves.”

Jaune sighed. He looked down at the dog, searching for a collar. There was none. “Can I at least try to find the owners? I can’t just leave her here.”

Ren sighed, “Fine. Where are you?”

* * *

They had been going around to stalls for what felt like ages. The twin suns were beginning to set, and floating lanterns began to light up. They had everything they needed to leave, but Jaune was dead set on finding the owner, or owners, of the dog, which he had named Petey, much to Ren’s chagrin.

Jaune refused to be embarrassed when Ren brought up that he’d named an actual living creature after his favourite cereal. And also shut _up_ Ren, Petey could be a girl’s name, shut up.

“Why are you so determined to find this thing’s owner?” Ren asked as they walked away from a fish-selling stand. “It’s not really your business.”

Jaune looked over at him. “It’s… it’s just a thing my dad taught me.”

Ren faltered. Jaune didn’t talk much about his dad anymore. His dad had died when they were in high school… it had taken a lot out of him.

“One time my dad took me to one of the few lakes on Ventos Beta,” Jaune began, “His home planet was almost entirely water, so he always liked it near the lake. We were walking along the shore, and there was this Balces dying on the dry land. That wasn’t unusual.” 

“They constantly swam too close to shore and got left in the tide pools once the water receded. But my dad…” Jaune shook his head, smiling fondly. “He just picked it up and threw it back out into the lake. Everytime we saw one, he picked it up and threw it back.”

“Wasn’t that kind of pointless?” Ren asked. “Those things are stupid. They’d just keep coming back. It doesn’t matter.”

“That’s what I thought too,” Jaune said. “And I asked my dad that. He just tossed another one back and said, ‘it mattered to that one.’ I guess it kind of stuck with me. There could be hundreds of stray pets on this planet, and I’ll never help all of them, but I can help this one.”

Ren hadn’t ever really gotten to know Jaune’s dad. He knew that he was a quiet, kind man who always came to school when Jaune got in trouble. He never yelled at Jaune for getting into fights. Never got angry or lost his temper. He just tried to help him be better.

He had been a good dad.

Finally, a shopkeeper waved them over. He had two sets of arms, one set waving, the other set clasped tightly around the handles on a basket of fruit. He smiled as the trio approached, waving at them causing the two green and yellow lines that ran down his arms to flash in the light.

“I believe you’re looking for that Dulcosi’s owner?” the shopkeeper asked, gently setting the basket of fruit down behind him.

“Yeah, do you know where we could find them?” Jaune asked, excited at finally finding a lead.

“Sure don’t,” the alien replied. “They left here ages ago. The poor thing-” He gestured to Petey. “-has been here ever since. No one wants the responsibility of taking care of her full time, but some of us food vendors will toss her something to eat when we can.”

Jaune knelt down next to the dog and rubbed gently behind her ears, still looking up at the shopkeeper. “She was abandoned? That’s awful.”

He felt sick. Who would abandon their puppy like that? He’d only known Petey for a little while but she was already the sweetest girl he had ever known.

“Sure was,” the shop owner said, shaking his head. He pulled a fruit out of the basket he’d set down and gave it to Petey. “They’re good pets. Loyal. Just need a family.”

Jaune looked up at Ren, putting on his best pleading face. This wasn’t just about his empty stomach anymore. This was for Petey.

Ren heaved a sigh, rubbing his forehead. Jaune wasn’t going to leave without this dog.

“There’s a pet supply shop just a couple streets down,” the shopkeeper said, winking knowingly. “Tell him Luxverd sent you, and he should give you a discount.”

Ren’s face was buried in his hands. He seemed to think that if he didn’t see Jaune then he would disappear. When he uncovered his face, however, Jaune was still there, holding Petey in his arms now.

The combination of Jaune’s pleading face, along with the dog happily panting at him with her tongue sticking out and wagging her tail was too much.

“Fine,” Ren groaned. “Where’s this shop?” He pulled out his map and let Luxverd point out where the shop would be. Not too far away. Ren shouldered his pack, forging out into the crowd. “Come on, Jaune.”

Jaune and the dog followed along behind, shit-eating grin plastered across his face, and Petey’s tag wagging furiously.

* * *

The shop was brightly lit, toys and pictures of various pets plastered on posters in the windows. The shopkeeper was waving goodbye to a happy looking alien who was carrying a kitten-esque creature in their arms. 

The shop owner looked to be the same species as Luxverd, except instead of green and yellow lines, he had two dark blue lines running down his cheeks. He turned his smile to Jaune and Ren as they approached.

“How can I help you?” he asked, extending one of his arms to Ren. “My name is Caelrune.”

“Ren,” he shook his hand. “We are… um…”

Jaune ignored the shopkeeper, darting to the toy shelf with Petey.

“I recognize that Dulcosi,” Caelrune said. “I suppose Luxverd sent you?”

Ren nodded, looking behind the shopkeeper to watch Jaune. He had set the dog down, and was showing her different toys. Every time Petey showed any interest in one, he added it to the growing pile in his arms.

“I should-” Ren started. Caelrune held up one of his arms, stopping him.

“Make sure your friend doesn’t buy my entire stock, yes.”

Ren nodded gratefully and walked past Caelrune and into the shop. Jaune was looking at bags of food now, the toys all in one basket. The dog was sniffing the different bags.

“Which one is it, girl?” He asked. “What do you want to eat?”

Petey leaned in to sniff a bright pink bag. Once she determined that she liked it, she butted her head against it, turning to pant at Jaune. He beamed and picked up the bag in his arms, almost toppling over from the weight.

“We’re not buying all of these toys,” Ren said, taking the bag of food from Jaune, who looked relieved. “We can’t afford all of them. We can barely afford to take care of ourselves!”

“We can manage,” Jaune said. “We always do.”

“At least put a few back,” Ren said, half-pleading. “She doesn’t need thirty different toys.”

Jaune frowned. He picked a few toys out of the basket, but didn’t like that decision so he put them back and picked a few different ones. He couldn’t decide which ones to put back. Petey deserved them all. Finally, Ren grabbed a random few and put them back on the shelf.

“This should be good,” he said, holding his arm out to stop Jaune from grabbing the toys again.

“Excellent,” Caelrune smiled at them and began calculating the cost.

* * *

Ren stared sadly at the small handful of currency they had left, while Jaune bounced happily alongside, playing tug-of-war with Petey. He sighed. He couldn’t stay mad at Jaune. Not when he was so happy with having a dog. 

Still… they needed money. Ren knew it wasn’t going to be easy when he had decided to join Jaune on this adventure. Nothing had ever been easy with Jaune.

They were going to have to find somewhere to earn some spare currency or this adventure was going to be cut short.


	2. Tennants

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They gained a dog, and it sets in even more that Ren is the only adult in a thousand clicks

The Berry rattled as Ren steered carefully through an asteroid belt. The handling on the ship wasn’t meant for sharp turns and quick maneuvers. He heard Petey and Jaune both yelp in surprise as the Berry turned nearly on its side. Ren quickly corrected their angle, silently praying that the crates in the hold would be able to stand the tossing and turning. 

“You two okay?” He called back.

“We’re good,” Jaune said. Another sharp turn had him throwing his arms even tighter around Petey, trying to keep her from slipping from his grasp.

“Just a little bit more,” Ren said, mostly to the ship. It shuddered in response. They really needed the cash from this job, just to fix the Berry. As their destination came into view, Ren took a risk and put on a burst of speed. He flinched when he heard something scrape along the top of the ship.

“What was that?” Jaune yelped. “Did you hurt my ship?”

“No?” Ren said, the word coming out more of a question than he liked.

The ship finally broke free of the asteroid belt, and Ren let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d be holding. The trade planet of Tregtar was approaching quickly, and Ren let the Berry slow down as they prepared for landing.

“Well, that could have been worse,” He muttered to himself.

* * *

“You  _ did  _ hurt my ship!” Jaune exclaimed, aghast, sitting on top of the Berry, elbow deep in the mechanics of it. “Fortunately, it’s just a scratch. I don’t think it got to anything internal.”

“That’s good,” Ren said into his communicator, heaving the crates out of the hold. None of them were damaged, luckily. Petey slept next to him, curled up on some empty sacks.

“Nope. Spoke too soon,” Jaune said, sighing. “The AI got hit. It’s totally busted.”

“Maybe we can find someone here who can fix it?” Ren suggested, closing the hold door.

“Sure hope so,” Jaune said, slamming the panel shut. “Or we’re stuck here.” He slid down back into the ship and emerged a few minutes later. Ren was shaking hands with a bird-like alien that clacked its beak a couple times and then handed Ren an envelope. 

A few more of the bird aliens carried the crates away while Ren checked the money. His face told Jaune that they’d been paid more than they should have been, but they weren’t about to tell their employers.

He pocketed the envelope and gave Jaune a thumbs-up.

Jaune tapped his watch a few times, pulling up a map of the local area. “There’s a town a little ways from here. Not huge, but hopefully we can find someone there who can help us.”

Ren nodded. They had more than enough to pay for an AI fix-up now, not to mention everything else wrong with the Berry.

“Where’s Petey?” Jaune asked.

“Inside,” Ren said. “She was sleeping in the common room last I checked.”

Jaune went back inside, running to their common room to check up on her. He hadn’t found a leash that would stay around her neck, yet, so they were going to have to leave her while they found a technician.

“Uh, Ren?” He called out.

“Yeah?”

“She isn’t here.”

Ren walked into the room. “Maybe she just moved to one of the other rooms?”

“You check upstairs. I’ll take this floor,” Jaune said.

When they reconvened, neither of them had found Petey.

“Maybe she slipped out when I was unloading the crates,” Ren said. “She can’t have gone far.”

Jaune was starting to panic. Their dog was gone. What if she got hurt? What if someone took her? What if she didn’t come back? What if… what if…

“Jaune!” Ren grabbed Jaune’s shoulders, holding him until his breathing evened out. “Snap out of it! Standing around worrying isn’t going to help us find Petey any faster.”

Jaune nodded, gently pushing Ren off of him. “I know, I’m just- I don’t want anything to have happened to her.”

“I know,” Ren said, leading Jaune outside. “We’ll find her.”

Petey wasn’t anywhere around the Berry. She wasn’t within ear shot. She always came when Jaune called. She must have gone towards the town, drawn in by whatever delicious smells were coming from there.

* * *

“Petey! Come here, girl!” Jaune called, a few aliens on the street giving him odd looks.

“Petey!” Ren yelled. “Petey, come on!”

No response. Jaune had to admit, he was starting to get tired. They had been searching for hours. He wouldn’t stop until he found Petey, though. Just a breather. A small but bright bar at the end of the street caught his attention, and he pointed it out to Ren.

“Maybe she went in there?” he suggested. “We could check, and rest our feet a bit.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Ren said. He didn’t look as tired, but Jaune could tell that even he was slowing down.

They entered the bar. Burnt neon lights decorated the walls. A few plants were placed in strategic corners. The place smelled like meat and beer. A few patrons sat at the bar, or at the various tables placed around the floor. No Petey in sight.

“I’m going to get some water,” Jaune told Ren. “Look around the back? Maybe she tried to get some scraps from the garbage.”

Ren nodded, “Get some for me too. My throat is dying.”

Jaune nodded back and sat down at the bar. The bartender, a Ninkain, stood behind the counter, polishing a glass and humming to herself. She looked up when Jaune collapsed onto one of the stools.

“You look like you’ve had a rough day,” she commented, speaking quickly. 

“You could say that,” Jaune said. “Can I get some water?”

The bartender looked surprised that Jaune didn’t order something a bit stronger, but she complied anyways. “Your friend looks like he’s looking for something,” she observed as she poured Jaune’s glass, glancing behind him as Ren walked back into the bar and looking him up and down.

“Our Dulcosi,” Jaune said, resting his head on the bar. “She ran off while we weren’t paying attention, and now we can’t find her anywhere.”

“What color is she?” the bartender asked, handing Jaune his water. “I think I might have seen one nearby.”

Jaune’s head jerked up. “She’s green, and responds to Petey.”

Ren came up behind Jaune, “Have you seen any Dulcosi that look like that? We’ve been searching for hours and we’re worried about her.”

“Give me a minute,” the bartender said. “I’ll be right back.” She retreated to the back of the bar. Ren and Jaune exchanged hopeful looks.

The woman came back out with an orange humanoid android wearing a bright green hoodie. He looked nervous, and the bartender appeared to be reassuring him as the two approached Jaune and Ren.

“This is Oscar,” the bartender said, flipping her vibrant orange hair out of her face and gently forcing the android to take a step closer to the bar.

Oscar waved, forcing a nervous smile. “Hi. You guys are looking for your dog?”

“Yes,” Jaune answered. “Have you seen her?”

Oscar nodded. “Yeah. She was wandering around outside. She wasn’t wearing a collar, and I didn’t want the animal control to get her, so I brought her inside.”

Jaune nearly vaulted over the bar. He wanted to grab and shake the information out of the android, but he was worried that he’d short the guy out, he was so anxious. “Where is she now?” he asked, standing up and almost knocking over his glass.

“She’s in the back right now,” Oscar said, startled by Jaune’s sudden movement. “I’ll go get her.” He quickly scurried to the back.

“Nora, by the way,” the bartender said, taking Ren’s hand and shaking it and giving him a wink. “My cousin runs this joint, but I help out when I can.”

“Nice to meet you,” Ren said, and Jaune was sure that if he could, that a flush would be spreading across his stone cheeks. “I’m Ren, and the impatient asshole is Jaune.”

Jaune frowned. “Dude, uncalled for.”

Before Ren could say anything else, Oscar reemerged from the back, carrying Petey carefully. The moment she saw Jaune she jumped out of Oscar’s arms and onto the bar, covering Jaune’s face in slobbery dog kisses.

“Oh my god, I missed you,” Jaune buried his face into her neck. “Don’t scare me like that, girl!”

“You two don’t happen to know a mechanic who could repair a damaged AI, do you?” Ren asked, pulling Nora and Oscar’s attention away from the happy reunion. Jaune wasn’t going to look up from Petey for another ten minutes or so.

Oscar and Nora exchanged looks. “I’m a mechanic,” Nora said, slowing her speech patterns for the first time since they’d met. “I should be able to fix your ship.”

“I know some things about ships too,” Oscar said, tapping his head. “Not how to actually fix it, though.”

“Any help is good help,” Ren said.

* * *

“Yeah, the router is totally fried,” Nora said, taking Ren’s hand as she climbed out of the Berry. “You’re going to need a replacement for that, as well as a few tweaks to the code. How hard did you hit this thing?”

Ren winced. “Pretty hard. An asteroid scraped along the top as we were getting out of the Muyeog belt.”

Nora frowned, hands on her hips and a frown on her face. “Oscar should be able to help with the coding, and I can show you where to find the parts you need.”

“I’ll come with you,” Ren volunteered. Nora grinned brightly and he averted his eyes again. “Jaune and Petey can stay here with Oscar. We don’t want her running off again.”

“Good idea,” Jaune said. “I should totally stay here with Petey. I should always be on Petey duty. Never let her out of my sight.”

Ren chuckled. “Sure,” he said, shaking his head.

“Let’s go now, while the good shops are still open,” Nora said. She and Ren waved goodbye to Oscar and Jaune and started down the street.

“So…” Oscar said, awkwardly shoving his hands into his pockets. “You like… dogs?”

“Love ‘em,” Jaune said, rubbing Petey behind the ears. “You, uh… You gonna get started on that coding?”

“Oh, right!” Oscar scrambled out of the room. Jaune followed right behind, making sure Petey followed before he let the door slide shut. He wasn’t letting her out of his sight for a while.

Oscar went to their control room, pulling up the coding on the main console. Jaune sat behind him, pulling Petey onto his lap.

“You’re the only crew members?” Oscar asked, beginning to go through the ship’s main coding.

“Yeah,” Jaune said, patting Petey’s belly. “Is there something wrong with that?”

“No!” Oscar quickly corrected. “I mean, most ships have a doctor or something, and someone who can do repairs. Sometimes a bodyguard. I’m guessing you guys are transporters?”

“Something like that,” Jaune said. “We just do odd jobs, really.”

Oscar nodded and went silent as he dove deeper into the coding of the Berry.

Uncomfortable silence.

* * *

A couple of hours later, Ren and Nora returned. Oscar had finished with the coding several minutes ago, and Jaune had been trying to keep up a conversation with the anxious android. 

Oscar seemed reluctant to tell Jaune much of anything about himself or Nora, but he had also seemed adverse to staying silent.

Ren walked right into the ship, carrying the parts. He gestured for Jaune to follow, while Nora pulled Oscar aside and began whispering to him.

“So, Nora and I got talking,” he started, setting down the parts they’d picked up, “and we could really use someone with her level of expertise on the crew. Apparently Oscar’s got some medical knowledge too, and is really good at coding.”

Jaune looked over at the two. It wouldn’t hurt to have more people on board, especially since he and Ren were barely managing this ship with just them.

“She’s talking to Oscar about it right now,” Ren continued. “As long as you’re okay with it, we should be good to go once she convinces him to come along with us.”

“Fine by me,” Jaune said. “I doubt that crash is going to be our last. We’re going to need a good technician.”

“Also with how much you get hurt we need someone with medical knowledge,” Ren said, ignoring Jaune’s indignant protest. “Face it, dude. You’re danger-prone.”

Jaune frowned and muttered, “It’s not that bad.”

“Even when we were kids, you couldn’t stop going into the hospital,” Ren said. “And it didn’t stop when you went off to the GAAP Academy, either.”

“I didn’t say I was against having a doctor,” Jaune said, still frowning. “It’s still a good idea.”

Nora and Oscar walked up just as Jaune finished speaking. Oscar was nervously tapping his foot and his hands. Nora was giving Jaune and Ren a Cheshire grin.

“We’re both on board. That offer still open?” Nora asked, still smiling.

“We’ll help you get your things from the bar,” Ren said, taking Nora’s hand and shaking it. “Welcome aboard the Berry.”

**Author's Note:**

> Slowly gathering the whole gang. Done moving into my dorm, so updates should be more regular again.


End file.
